Tamil Methodist Church, Tamil Settlement Ipoh: 1908 - 2008

 

 

 

The Tamil Methodist Church, Tamil Settlement celebrates its 100th Anniversary this year as a church in Buntong, Ipoh. To commemorate this milestone event, the leaders of the church decided to have a year long celebration. The theme for this Centennial Celebration is “Century of Grace”.

Tamil Settlement launched its centennial celebrations on 1st January 2008 – a New Year Service that would be remembered by many who attended the service. It began with the Watch Night Service and carried over to the New Year.

An original anniversary theme song was set to music by Ms Nishabel Anbalakan with lyrics by Mrs Helen Simson. A celebration logo was designed by Miss Selina Wilson.

The Centennial Thanksgiving service was celebrated on 31 May 2008 at 5.00 p.m. It was truly a day of glory and praise that brought more than 1,600 members and friends of the church together. The main guests of this service were our Bishop Dr. Hwa Yung, TAC President, Rev. P.Tevaraji, TAC Perak District Superintendent, Rev. Dr. A.E. Joseph, TAC Lay Leader, Mr. Steven Solomon, State Assembly Speaker and Assemblyman of Tronoh, Y.B. Encik Sivakumar and Assemblyman of Buntong, Y.B. Encik Sivasubramaniam.

The service started with the wail of the shofars. It was a call for self-reflection and repentance. The surround-sound of shofar blasts was simply awesome and instantly filled the atmosphere that prepared everyone for worship. A special choir was formed for this Thanksgiving Service under the leadership of Mr. Anbalakan.

The church in commemoration of its Centennial Celebration established a benevolence ministry known as the Centennial Benevolent Fund. The purpose of the fund is to provide assistance for needy members in the event of financial crisis, hardship or emergency situation.

Rev. P.Tevaraji, the President of the Tamil Annual Conference extended his greetings and in his speech reminisced the time when he was a young boy in this church.

It was an honor to have our Bishop preaching God’s word on that special day. The message text was taken from Joshua 24:1-18 and the message title was “Remembering Our Promise”. In his message, he challenged the church on three important things, i.e. to focus on evangelism and church planting, to reach out to the poor and needy and to avail our children for full time ministry.

After the service, all were treated to a sumptuous dinner. It was a wonderful and joyful time of fellowship. Fireworks display was the last event of the day. The display was beautiful and spectacular to watch and everyone enjoyed it. It was a fun way to end the momentous occasion.

Vilson Daniel
Centennial Committee Chairman
T.M.C. Tamil Settlement, Ipoh.